Toys”R”Us is alive and well! At least in Canada. But if you’re thinking of shopping the online store and reliving your childhood, think again. You can browse the store which looks exactly the same as the USA site did, however unfortunately you cannot purchase without a Canada “ship to” address. I assume it was part of their acquisition deal that happened in June 2018.

Toys”R”Us (Canada) Ltd. announces the completion of the acquisition of its business by Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. Toys R Us Canada is now a proudly Canadian-owned and operated business employing more than 4,000 Canadians and Canada’s only exclusive coast to coast business with over 80 locations dedicated to kids and babies across Canada.

As Canada’s leading toy and baby retailer, we are thrilled to be part of the Fairfax family and to now operate as a reinvigorated company that is 100% Canadian. I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our valued customers for their loyalty with us over the last several months. We are passionate about our business and want Canadians to know that we are champions of play with the newest trends and hottest toys in our stores. We believe that parenting is an adventure and Babies“R”Us Canada will be there along the journey to help parents.

While there are talks of a promised spin-off of Toys”R”Us in the works even as soon as next month, it is unknown if it will be open in time for the Holiday shopping season. I know I am hoping for that “Big Toy Book” to be put in my mailbox the week leading up to black friday as it has every year prior. Will it happen? When we do not really have a definitive answer at this time.

What we do know, is there is hope that we will once again walk the aisle’s of a child’s dream store, and be able to see, touch, and feel the toys which is what separates it from all of the large online retailers like Amazon, and nothing can compare to that. If anything, it sure looks promising.

Comicbook.com posted that there were reps from the new company at the Toy Preview 2018 in Dallas, including Geoffrey himself boasting a “Back from Vacation” cape;

Full Press Release below;

WAYNE, NJ – October 2, 2018 – Geoffrey, LLC, Toys “R” Us, Inc.’s intellectual property holding company subsidiary, announced today that it is moving forward with a plan for substantially all of its assets to be acquired by a group of investors led by Geoffrey, LLC’s existing secured lenders.

The announcement was made following a five month marketing effort by Boston-based Consensus, an investment bank retained to market the assets of Geoffrey, LLC, that resulted in several formal and informal proposals to acquire the intellectual property assets. After considering such proposals, it was determined that the proposal from the existing term lenders was meaningfully higher and better than any other global bid or the sum of the bids received on individual assets. The transition of the business to its new owners is pending approval of the United States Bankruptcy Court and all major creditor constituencies are supportive. Geoffrey, LLC thanks all parties that participated in discussions with the company over the prior months, particularly those that submitted proposals, for their thoughtful and diligent engagement.

Geoffrey, LLC, as reorganized, will control a portfolio of intellectual property that includes trademarks, ecommerce assets and data associated with the Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us businesses in the United States and all over the world, including a portfolio of over 20 well-known toy and baby brands such as Imaginarium, Koala Baby, Fastlane and Journey Girls. The reorganized company will own rights to the Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us brands in all markets globally, with the exception of Canada. It will also become the licensor of the brands to the company’s existing network of franchisees operating in countries across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, and in South Africa.

In addition to continuing to service these markets, the new owners are actively working with potential partners to develop ideas for new Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores in the United States and abroad that could bring back these iconic brands in a new and re-imagined way. Geoffrey LLC will provide additional detail on this front as it becomes available.

For now, you can check out all of the other retailers who attended Fall Toy Preview and are very much open for business this holiday season.